Each year in the U.S., 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school with limited options for higher education or employment. Many undocumented youth were brought to this country as children, even infants, by their parents. They are indistinguishable in every way but one from their citizen friends, classmates, and siblings: they don’t have a piece of paper that says they can stay here.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) would change that. The Act would provide conditional legal status to applicants who:

Julio Maldonado was deported to Peru on Thursday, October 22, 2009, after arriving in the U.S. 38 years ago at the age of 3.

He and his cousin, Denis Calderon, had been victims of an attack based on their ethnicity in 1996. Julio was wrongfully convicted of aggravated assault, incarcerated for a total of 8 years, and then deported.

I've lived in Philly just over a year now, and for most of that time I've worked as a staff attorney for a local nonprofit helping immigrants and refugees stay in this country with their families. I have worked in the field for about three years and I've seen a lot of messed up things in that short time. Doing this work is a good way to develop a thick skin. But almost three months ago, I learned about a local case that made my jaw drop.

Julio Maldonado and his cousin Denis Calderon were victims of a racial attack in Northeast Philly in 1996. Julio had come to the U.S. at the age of three from Peru and had been a lawful permanent resident since age seven. He lived in New York and was visiting Denis's home in Philly. Denis's family was the first Latin@ family in the neighborhood.